Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Scrap fabric on paper/Stoffschnipsel auf Papier



A short while ago, I found an interesting idea how to find use for the tiny fabric scraps I use to collect in a glass jar on my working table.

Take a piece of craft paper - or a paper grocery bag - cut it flat the size you desire, then arrange those tiny scraps of fabric and trims onto the paper, sticking them to the paper with a bit of glue stick or PVA glue. You don't have to glue very accurately, just enough to keep the scraps in place.

When the glue is dry, you might want to iron the collage - sandwich it under a sheet of newspaper to keep your iron from getting sticky.

Then use your sewing machine and a zigzag seam to complete the collage. Now you have a fabric paper sheet.

At Mamume's blog (in German), where I first found this idea, she uses this sheet for cutting it up into tags, which is a great idea - but I think this material is sturdy enough to be used for something more lasting, like for a book cover for example.

This is a book cover which I made as a birthday present for a friend:



As I wanted the title of the book to show through, I cut out a 'window' in the fabric with a craft knife and replaced it with a piece of clear plastic from a transparent envelope.



I also added a cotton ribbon for a bookmark and an elastic ribbon for holding book and cover shut.



Another use for this 'new' material would be to sew a kind of document bag out of it,



closing it with a zipper or a velcro strip.



(German summary: In
Mamume's blog (auf Deutsch) habe ich eine nette Anleitung gefunden, wie man kleinste Stoffschnipsel auf Papier aufnähen kann - und gleich sind mir ein paar weitere Ideen gekommen, wie man diesen 'neuen Stoff' auch noch verwenden könnte ...)

10 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Wow, that is a great idea and one that I can use since I need to make tags. And another chance to practice my impossible skills, haha.

Kelly said...

What a fabulous idea!!!! I may have to play around with this idea. :) The book cover turned out wonderful!

Numinosity said...

You can also do something similar with a product called "Wonder Under" and then you can just iron it to the paper. It's a kind of double sided fusible web. I've even ironed it to cardboard for fabric postcards.

I really like the way yours came out. I think I would like the texture on the paper bag.
xoxo Kim

Anneli/Bockfilz said...

Thank you!

@Elizabeth: Yes, this is what I ment when we talked earlier about sewing on paper!

@Kelly: I'll be thrilled to see what you will use it for - 'taking it further' is such a great idea with blogging!

(Wouldn't some kind of a gift bag be a great idea, too?)

@Kim/NuminosityBeads: Thank you for your idea with the wonder-under!

For this project, I liked the idea of just re-using scraps, even the craft paper was recycled packing material - but there will certainly be other occasions where a double-side-sticking material would be very convenient!

Yes, the texture of the paper is wonderful - soft and still durable!

Sara lechner said...

immer neue ideen! toll!

sophielouise said...

I love your book cover! Especially the idea to keep a piece in transparent so that you can see through!!
xxx

Anneli/Bockfilz said...

Thank you, Sara and Sophie! Glad you like my experiments!

Zebra said...

Endlich komm ich dazu mir diese Kreation anzusehen! Coole Idee und schön Deine Verwendungsbeispiele! Das wär ja was für mich Nähmaschinenmuffel zum Üben :-)

Anneli/Bockfilz said...

Ja, Zebra, mach' das! Ist richtig lustig - und ein sehr entspanntes Nähen!

Anu said...

Das will ich haben-ähm, machen...supertolle Idee- Danke!! Anu (Franka:-)